Legal Fight Underway for Right to Use Bill Monroe's Name

Campbell "Doc" Mercer is throwing an annual festival celebrating the life and music of Bill Monroe but without the name of the "Father of Bluegrass Music" to promote it. Mercer, the head of the Jerusalem Ridge Foundation, is locked in a legal fight with Ohio County, Ky., and its industrial foundation about whether he was ever given the legal right to use Monroe's name for commercial purposes.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments in the case Nov. 19 in Hardinsburg.

Mercer's festival started Thursday near Rosine in western Kentucky and runs through the weekend. He contends the county granted him the rights to use Monroe's name in 2001. The county says there was never any intent to allow Mercer to use Monroe's name and likeness.

Related Content

The Owensboro City Commission is giving the go-ahead to a budget amendment that includes money for a new bluegrass music center and skate park. The Messenger-Inquirer reports commissioners voted 3-to-2 in favor of the amendment at Tuesday night’s meeting at City Hall.

Governor Beshear's budget proposal does not include money for a new downtown bluegrass music center in Owensboro. The Messenger-Inquirer reports that the city and Daviess County did not receive funding for any capital projects in the Governor's two-year plan. Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne recently traveled to Frankfort to plead his case for $18 million to convert a downtown state office building into a new international bluegrass music center.